A Berlin road was formally renamed on Saturday for an 18th-century African thinker after years of debate over its earlier identify that many thought-about outdated and offensive.
The native council within the central Mitte district introduced in 2020 that it wished to alter the identify of the road from Mohrenstrasse (Moors’ Road) to Anton Wilhelm Amo Road, after the primary black thinker identified to have taught at a German college.
The Mohrenstrasse metro station additionally took the brand new identify on Saturday, a date chosen to coincide with the Worldwide Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Commerce.
Compared with the English phrase “Moor”, the German time period carries a extra direct connotation of pores and skin color and has lengthy been thought-about pejorative and offensive.
Sharon Dodua Otoo, a British author and activist who lives in Germany, unveiled one of many road indicators alongside district mayor Stefanie Remlinger.
“Anton Wilhelm Amo Road stands for solidarity, for appreciation. For a very appreciative remembrance of African folks in seventeenth century Germany,” Otoo mentioned.
“It is a fantastic success for civil society, which has been pushing for a reputation change for greater than 30 years,” mentioned Tahir Della, from the group Decolonize Berlin, which organised celebrations to mark the identify change.
“It makes clear why the previous identify is so problematic for a lot of black folks in Germany,” he mentioned.
The origins of the identify Moors’ Road are unclear.
It dates again to the early 18th century, the peak of the Atlantic slave commerce, and a few urged it could confer with former slaves who settled there.
One other concept is that it refers to a visiting African diplomatic delegation.
No matter its exact origins, Della mentioned the identify is a “racist description for black folks”.
Nonetheless, some native residents mounted authorized challenges towards the council to attempt to cease the renaming.
A final-minute courtroom determination on Friday briefly threatened to derail the method, even after employees had already begun switching the road indicators.
However the next courtroom overturned the choice hours later, permitting the renaming to go forward.
Anton Wilhelm Amo, born round 1700 in what’s right now Ghana, is believed to have been bought into slavery after which delivered to Europe.
Amo was “only a baby when he was introduced from west Africa” to Germany, Otoo mentioned.
Amo later had the chance to obtain an training that took him to the distinguished universities of Wittenberg, Halle and Jena, changing into an necessary determine in Germany’s Enlightenment interval.
Decolonize Berlin says the brand new identify honours a logo of “resistance, self-affirmation and data within the African diaspora”.
Della mentioned he hopes the renaming will function an “impetus for additional discussions on public areas”, pointing to debates on different road names in Berlin honouring figures from Germany’s colonial previous.
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